Richard MacPherson, President & CEO of Birchtech Corp. was recently a guest on Benzinga's All-Access.
Birchtech is a leader in clean technology. The company is seeking to accelerate the pace of innovation in the sector by delivering faster, more effective and better-optimized end-to-end solutions for customers to meet increasing regulations.
Mr. MacPherson spoke of exciting recent developments at Birchtech, including the company's push into water purification.
Birchtech is a leader in clean technology. The company is seeking to accelerate the pace of innovation in the sector by delivering faster, more effective and better-optimized end-to-end solutions for customers to meet increasing regulations.
Mr. MacPherson spoke of exciting recent developments at Birchtech, including the company's push into water purification.
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00:00It's my pleasure to welcome Rick McPherson, the CEO of Birch Tech Group.
00:08It's fantastic to be with you today, Rick.
00:10Yes, Dan.
00:11It's great to be here.
00:12Thank you very much.
00:13Of course.
00:14Now, can you give us an overview of Birch Tech?
00:16Sure.
00:17Birch Tech is an environmental tech company, which I started in 2008, commercialized in
00:232011, grew nicely to 2015, and we work in the field of mercury collection.
00:30So when the federal regulations came in, in 2015, our company took off.
00:36We were doing $33 million a year in 2016, dropping about $9 million to the bottom line.
00:42But unfortunately, we did a lot of demonstrations.
00:46And in spite of being NDA-ed in terms of our technology, the market adopted our technologies
00:53widely, but failed to include licensing and supply from us as was required.
00:58So we moved on and were able to, after a great deal of legal work that culminated in a case
01:06filed in 2019, insist and successfully achieve adoption by a majority of the folks using
01:15our technology.
01:17And so at this point in time, we've turned around nicely, our revenues are growing, we've
01:23had significant legal wins to secure the IP value for our shareholders, and we're moving
01:29forward on a positive cash flow basis with great tailwind of new business coming through
01:35the door.
01:36And let's talk about this, Rick.
01:38Why adopt the structure that you have as the parent of ME2C Environmental?
01:43So the approach that we have right now is to use our expertise and pedigree in the carbonaceous
01:50material world to move forward, not only in the air purification, but in a water purification,
01:58which is a much bigger opportunity for us across the US.
02:03And we've made really strong strides and inroads in moving into the water purification business,
02:09focusing on drinking water, but also focused on wastewater remediation.
02:15So the team of engineers that we had that were so successful in creating the technologies
02:20widely adopted through the power plant industry, turned their attention several years ago to
02:26us entering the water business, and we stepped out as well and acquired and hired several
02:32new key individuals to join the group, led by Dr. David Mazik, who's the head of our
02:40water division.
02:42So we've made great strides in developing new technologies for water purification and
02:48wastewater remediation, which we'll be bringing to market in 2025.
02:54Well, tell us about some of those technologies and how does your air and water purification
02:59work?
03:00So the air business is sound, proven, solid, and in place without any requirement for additional
03:08development going forward.
03:10We do expect we have the potential to move from that 20 range into 40 plus million just
03:16through the settlements at hand on an annual basis.
03:20The water business, however, we see an opportunity for at least 10 times that revenue annually,
03:27given that it's a $1.5 billion annual business and our new technologies, which we've developed,
03:34we expect to be able to do the same for water as we did for air, which is basically disrupted
03:41significantly and take a nice percentage of that market.
03:45We have our sights set on about 25% of the outstanding market now in the water purification
03:52business.
03:53Got to love being a disruptor for sure, Rick.
03:55Well, let's dive a little deeper into the patent lawsuits.
03:57Tell us about the recent developments in your patent lawsuits.
04:00Give us a little background here.
04:02Sure.
04:03So on the air side, we had these group of patents that were very solid and have proven
04:10to be validated through the jury trial that we had in Delaware and applicable to anybody
04:17using our process in the air pollution side, which there are dozens that still are using
04:25it without a license from us.
04:27So we're pursuing that to protect the shareholder value of the company, and that will provide
04:32the growth in that core business.
04:34Going forward, we have a number of different patents pending for new technologies that
04:40we've created and developed and fully tested and vetted in the water purification market,
04:46both that wastewater remediation objectives and the collection and the destruction of
04:54PFOA and PFAS or forever chemical materials in the drinking water.
04:59So we've got a great new group of technologies that we will be doing head-to-head testing
05:05with various engineering groups and utilities in Q2 of this year, and we'll be launching
05:12those new products commercially in the second half of 2025.
05:17Very exciting stuff.
05:18I know debt repayment rig was a major priority for you in 2024.
05:22How is that progressing?
05:23Oh, very well.
05:24We've paid off all of our debt as a company, other than a profit share piece, which comes
05:30out of significant IP wins.
05:33And in this case, whenever the judge comes down with his final decision, we will pay
05:38a small percentage of that to a bank that we've had longstanding relationships with.
05:45Other than that, we're debt-free.
05:47We're operating on a cash-positive basis ahead of all of these growth factors that I've just
05:53mentioned to you.
05:55And let's talk about trends.
05:56What are the biggest trends you're seeing in clean tech?
05:59It's a very exciting space.
06:00Where is the industry heading?
06:02Well, you know, what's very interesting is the coal business itself, which we're attached
06:06to with the air purification side, is growing rapidly.
06:11The AI demand for coal power has changed the forecast for the coal industry, the coal power
06:17industry, drastically.
06:20So we see our core business, our base business that we are building on, as a solid business.
06:26We expect coal will be in the high teens as a percentage of the total fleet output for
06:33years to come, if not more so.
06:36And so we find ourselves in a good spot.
06:38The administration is pro-coal.
06:41The industry and the AI behind it is pro-coal.
06:44And so our technologies are in a very good place at this time.
06:49And what we develop for water, I must tell you, Dan, is going to be a disruptor, at least
06:55as good or better than what we introduced to the air pollution industry.
07:01I love it.
07:02Very exciting stuff and a very exciting time for Birch Tech right now.
07:05It was an absolute pleasure talking to you today, Wernick.
07:07Thank you so much for your time.
07:08Dan, thank you.
07:09Pleasure to be here.